GAZA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinians on Friday moved toward the eastern Gaza Strip area close to the border with Israel for the fourth Friday rally against Israelis.
It is part of a six-week protest in Gaza, known as the "Great March of Return" starting on March 30, and expected to peak on May 15, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence but marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."
On Friday morning, three Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire in clashes between eastern Jabalia town in northern Gaza and Israel, according to Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza.
Dozens of tents have been erected in eastern Gaza, just 700 meters away from the border security fence in five different spots in the coastal enclave.
Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Gaza Islamic Jihad leader and the coordinator of the National Corporation for the Marches of Return and Defying the Israeli Siege, said in an emailed press statement that the corporation decided to move the tents of protests 50 meters ahead.
"As a continuation of the national 'Great March of Return,' and as a message of our people's determination addressed to the world, we are moving ahead toward our legitimate and permanent objectives by advancing the camps 50 meters ahead," he said.
Al-Batsh also described the move as "a first step to express the right to return for Palestinian refugees."
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said Israeli planes threw flyers over eastern Gaza, warning people "not to listen to the incitement of the organizers of the rallies."
Since the beginning of the anti-Israel rally on March 30, 33 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,000 others injured, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.
